HOLY MARTYR-KING OLAF OF NORWAY

Celebrated July 29 (translation August 3)

St. Olaf was born in 995, the son of a Norwegian lord named Harald Grenske,
the great grandson of Harald Fairhair, and Asta Gudbransdatter. Olaf grew up in
the household of his stepfather, Sigurd Byr of Ringarike. From the age of 12, he
went on expeditions to the Baltic coast, Denmark and the Netherlands. Between
1009 and 1013 he fought under Thorkell the Tall against the English at London,
Ringmere and Canterbury. For a time he was a captain of mercenaries for Duke
Richard of Normandy, and in 1013 or 1014 he was converted to the Faith of Christ
and baptized in Rouen. Then he entered the service of the exiled English King
Ethelred and followed him back to England, where he fought on the English side at
the taking of London Bridge. When the Danish King Canute conquered England, Olaf
joined his service.

According to The Saga of St. Olaf, the two men were at first great friends.
However, King Canute then became jealous of the younger man. Moreover, the Saga
continues, "the bishop [St. Sigfrid, enlightener of Sweden] always waited for
Olaf at Divine service, but not for Canute, and the bishop called Olaf king, and
this Canute could not bear to hear, and spoke to the bishop about it in such
strong words that the latter had to desist, because of the king's authority, for
the king's heart was filled to overflowing with pride and ambition, because of
his power and place. So things went on until it came to Lent. Then Canute began
to speak to Sigfrid: 'Is it true that you called Olaf by the title of king this
winter? Now how do you defend your words, when he has no settled country nor
wears a crown?'

"'It is true, my lord,' said the bishop, 'that he has no land here, and he
wears no crown of gold or silver. Nay, rather is he chosen and crowned by the
highest Lord and Ruler, the King of all kings, the one almighty God, to rule and
govern that kingdom to which he is born, and this special destiny awaits him, to
rule a kingdom for the comfort and profit of the people, and to yield to God the
fitting fruit of his coming into his kingdom. All the people in Norway and the
lands tributary to it, and not these parts only, but no less the whole of the
region of the north as well, shall have reason to remember and keep in mind this
pillar and support of God's Christendom, who will root out all brambles and weeds
from God's field and vineyard, and sow in their stead the noble seed of God's
holy words. All these words will flourish and come to perfect growth, and every
man who accepts them will himself be acceptable to the highest King of heaven,
world without end.'

"King Canute said: 'You cannot be said to have made good the words which we
are told you have spoken, my lord Bishop, declaring that he outshines us in
miraculous virtues, above all if you make so great a distinction between us, that
you declare that we show no virtues at all.'

"'You have heard rightly concerning these words of ours,' said the bishop.

"King Canute said: 'It avails me little, then, to chastise myself more than
King Olaf, if I am bound to fall short of him in some respect, for now, since
Lent has begun, I wear a linen and not a silken shirt, a scarlet kirtle, and not
one of velvet or purple. I drink also ale and not mead. But Olaf wears a shirt of
silk and a kirtle of velvet. He has the choicest foods prepared for him, and a
vessel of wine stands on his table.'

"The bishop said: 'It is true, my lord, that Olaf wears a shirt of silk, but
he wears a hair-cloth under the shirt, and a belt about his body so broad that it
reaches from hip to shoulder-blade, and iron extending from it in front. You will
always see that when King Olaf takes his seat and the choicest foods are brought
before him, there is a mound in the place where he is wont to sit. There is
hidden a cripple, and it is he that eats the dainties, but Olaf eats salt and
bread. There is also a vessel of water, and this Olaf drinks, and has no more to
drink than that, but it is the cripple that drinks out of the wine-cup.'

"Then King Canute was so enraged against Bishop Sigfrid, that King Olaf could
not stay there because of the jealousy of King Canute, and a little later it went
the same way with Bishop Sigfrid."

In 1015 Olaf and Sigfrid went to Norway, where Olaf succeeded in seizing the
kingdom in spite of much opposition. First, by distributing money, and with the
support of his kinsmen on the Opplands, he gained control of Ostland. Then, on
Palm Sunday, March 25th, 1016, he conquered the country's principal chieftains,
Sven Hakonsson Jarl, Einar Tambarskjelve, and Erling Skjalgsson, in the sea
battle at Nesjar (between Larviksfjord and Lengesundsfjord). In the same year he
was accepted as King at the Oreting in Trondelag.

He had a comparatively peaceful reign for almost 10 years, and during this
period considerably advanced the unification of Norway. Olaf's work of
unification assumed concrete form as territorial dominion over a kingdom which
extended from Gautelven in the south up to Finnmark in the north, from the
Vesterhav islands in the west to the forests toward the realm of the Swedes in
the east. Olaf was the first high king who secured real control over the inland
areas of Trondelag and Opplandene. Moreover, he gained a foothold for the
Norwegian national kingdom on the Orkney islands and Hjaltland.

Olaf also laid the foundation for nationwide local government and introduced a
certain division of labor among the royal housecarls. He installed sheriffs
recruited from the nobility and the landed gentry throughout the country and
tried by means of his year-men to keep control of the political activities of the
sheriffs. According to Snorre a division of labor seems to have occurred in the
King's household into actual housecarls (military functions), guests (police
functions), house chaplains, and churls (duties within the palace). Moreover,
several titles of the masters of the King's court are known from this time:
standard-bearer, King's Marshal, House Bishop.

With the aid of his English missionaries he succeeded in making Norway
Christian. At the meeting of the Ting (Parliament) At Moster, Bomlo in
Sunnhordland (1024), Norway acquired a nationwide ecclesiastical organization
with churches and priests, a Christian legal system and a first organization of
the Church's finances. Gwyn Jones writes: "The Christian law formulated at Moster
was of prime authority; it was read out at the different Things, and there are
confirmatory references to it in the oldest Gulathing Law." The king established
peace and security for his people, remaking old laws and insisting on their
execution, unaffected by bribes or threats. He built many churches, including one
dedicated to St. Clement at the capital, Nidaros (Trondheim). All other faiths
except Christianity were outlawed.

At the beginning of his reign St. Olaf did not enjoy good relations with
Sweden; for the Swedish King Olof Skotkonung had seized a portion of Norway in
about the year 1000. However, through the mediation of St. Anna, King Olof's
daughter, it was agreed that St. Olaf should marry his other daughter Astrid, and
relations between the two Christian kings were restored. In this way the
foundations were laid for the Christianization of the whole of Scandinavia.

After the death of the King Olof in 1022, St. Olaf made an alliance with his
son Anund Jacob against Canute of England and Denmark. For Canute's hatred had
not been extinguished; and the jealousy of this Cain was destined both to open a
fruitful mission-field and to provide a martyr's crown for the latter day Abel.
But in 1026 the allies were defeated by Canute at Helgean in Skane, Sweden.

Then, as Florence of Worcester writes, "since it was intimated to Canute, king
of the English and Danes, that the Norwegians greatly despised their king, Olaf,
for his simplicity and gentleness, his justice and piety, he sent a large sum of
gold and silver to certain of them, requesting them with many entreaties to
reject and desert Olaf, and submit to him and let him reign over them. And when
they had accepted with great avidity the things which he had sent, they sent a
message back to him that they would be ready to receive him whenever he pleased
to come." So the next year (1028), "Canute, king of the English and Danes, sailed
to Norway with 50 great ships, and drove out King Olaf and subjected it to
himself," appointing the Danish earl Hakon, son of Eirik Jarl, whom Olaf had
banished in 1015, as his viceroy.

Olaf decided to flee to Sweden and thence to the court of his kinsman,
Yaroslav of Kiev, whose father, the famous St. Vladimir, had given shelter to
Olaf Tryggvason in his youth. And it was the same Olaf Tryggvason who appeared to
his successor and namesake one night and said:

"Are you sick at heart over which plan to take up? It seems strange to me that
you are pondering so much, and similarly that you are thinking of laying down the
kingdom which God has given you, and moreover that you are thinking of staying
here and taking a kingdom [Bulgaria] from kings who are foreign and strangers to
you. Rather go back to your kingdom which you have taken as your inheritance and
have long ruled over with the strength God has given you, and do not let your
underlings make you afraid. It is to a king's honor to win victories over his
foes, and an honorable death to fall in battle with his men. Or are you not sure
whether you have the right in this struggle? You will not act so as to deny your
true right. You can boldly strive for the land, for God will bear you witness
that it is your own possession."

In 1029 Hakon died in a shipwreck in the Pentland Firth on his way home to
Norway. This gave Olaf his opportunity. Early in 1030 he set off for Norway over
the frozen Russian rivers. When the sea-ice broke, he sailed to Gotland with 240
men. King Anund of Sweden gave him 480 more, but when he faced Canute's army at
Stikrlarstadir, he had no more than 3600 men (Swedes, Jamtlanders from Northern
Sweden, Icelanders and his Norwegian companions) against a peasant army 14,400
mrn - the largest army ever assembled in Norway.

Then, like Gideon, the saint decided to reduce his numbers by choosing only
Christians to fight in his army. So he was eventually opposed by overwhelmingly
larger forces. And as the sun went into total eclipse on July 29, 1030 (July 30,
according to modern astronomers), his army was defeated and he himself was
killed, as had been revealed to him in a vision just before the battle.

But immediately a great fear fell on the soldiers of Canute's army. And then
miracles began to be manifested at St. Olaf's body: a light was seen over it at
night; a blind man recovered his sight on pressing his fingers, dipped in the
saint's blood, to his eyes; springs of water with healing properties flowed from
his grave; and then, to the chagrin of Canute's first wife, Elgiva, and her son
King Swein of Denmark, his body was found to be incorrupt. Soon the penitent
Norwegians expelled the Danes, and recalled Olaf's son Magnus from Russia to be
their king.

The incorruption of Olaf's body was certified by his loyal Bishop Grimkel,
whose see was Nidaros (Trondheim). As we read in St. Olaf's Saga: "Bishop Grimkel
went to meet Einar Tambarskelver, who greeted the bishop gladly. They afterwards
talked about many things and especially about the great events which had taken
place in the land. They were agreed among themselves on all matters. The bishop
then went into the market and the whole crowd greeted him. He asked carefully
about the miracles which were related of King Olaf and learned a great deal from
this questioning. Then the bishop sent word to Torgils and his son Grim at
Stiklastad, calling them to meet him in the town. Torgils and his son did not
delay their journey, and they went to meet the bishop in the town. Then they told
him all the remarkable things which they knew and also the place where they had
hidden the king's body. The bishop then sent word to Einar Tambarskelver, and
Einar came to the town. Einar and the bishop then had a talk with the king and
Elgiva and asked the king to allow them to take up King Olaf's body from the
earth. The king gave permission, and told the bishop to do it as he wished. Then
a great crowd assembled in the town. The bishop and Einar then went with some men
to the place where the king's body was buried and had it dug up. The coffin had
by this time almost risen out of the earth. In accordance with the advice of
many, the bishop had the king buried in the ground beside St. Clement's church.
It was twelve months and five days from the death of the king to the day his holy
relics were taken up, the coffin having risen out of the earth and looking as new
as if it had just been planned. Bishop Grimkel then went to the opened coffin of
King Olaf, from which there proceeded a precious fragrance. The bishop then
uncovered the king's face, and it was completely unchanged: the cheeks were red
as if he had just fallen asleep. Those who had seen King Olaf when he fell
noticed a great difference in that his hair and nails had grown almost as much as
they would have done if he had been alive in this world all the time since his
fall. King Swein and all the chiefs who were there then went to see King Olaf's
body.

"Then Elgiva said: 'A body rots very slowly in sand; it would not have been so
if he had lain in mould.'

"The bishop then took a pair of scissors and cut off some of the king's hair
and also some of his beard (he had a long beard, as was the custom at that time).
Then the bishop said to the king and Elgiva:

"'Now the king's hair and beard are as long as when he died, and since then
they have grown as much as you now see shorn off.'

"Then Elgiva answered: 'This hair will be a holy relic to me if it does not
burn in the fire; we have often seen the hair of men who have lain longer in the
earth than this man whole and unscathed.'

"The bishop then had fire brought in on a censer. He made the sign of the
cross over it and put incense in it. Then he laid King Olaf's hair in the fire.
And when all the incense had burned the bishop took up the hair from the fire and
it was not burned. The bishop let the king and the other chiefs see it. Then
Elgiva ordered them to lay the hair in unhallowed fire. But Einar Tambarskelver
ordered her to be silent and said many hard words to her. Then the bishop
declared, and the king agreed, and the people deemed, that King Olaf was truly
holy. The king's body was then borne into St. Clement's church and placed over
the high altar. The coffin was wrapped in a pall and over it was placed a
beautiful cover. And then many miracles took place at the holy relics of King
Olaf."

King Canute made no opposition to the veneration of St. Olaf, and churches
dedicated to the saint were soon being built throughout the Viking world, from
Dublin to the Orkneys to Novgorod. Forty ancient churches were dedicated to St.
Olaf in Britain, and his feast occurs on several English calendars.

It was in connection with a miracle attributed to St. Olaf that a chapel was
dedicated to him in Constantinople. Thus Bishop Ambrose von Sievers writes: "From
other sources I have established that the Panagia Varangiotissa was situated by
the western facade of Hagia Sophia, almost touching it. In about the reign of
Alexis Comnenus (or a little earlier) St. Olaf was included among the saints of
Constantinople and in the church of the Varangian Mother of God a side-chapel was
built in honor of St. Olaf, while the old church itself was transformed into a
church to which a women's monastery was attached."

According to the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, in 1066 as St.
Olaf's half-brother, King Harald of Norway was preparing to invade England, he
dreamed that he was in Trondheim and met St. Olaf there. Olaf told him that he
had won many victories and died in holiness because he had stayed in Norway. But
now he feared that he, Harald, would meet his death, "and wolves will rend your
body; God is not to blame." Snorri wrote that "many other dreams and portents
were reported at the time, and most of them were ominous." Harald was killed, in
accordance with the prophecy of St. Olaf, at the Battles of Stamford Bridge in
England.